World Bank officials investigating Paul Wolfowitz have concluded that he did breach ethics rules when he helped engineer get a promotion and a pay rise for his girlfriend.
The preliminary conclusions of the special panel of the bank's board will intensify the campaign by Mr Wolfowitz's critics to force him to resign as president.
Their draft report has found that the former deputy secretary of defence and architect of the Iraq war flouted World Bank regulations on employment contracts and ethics and had undermined the reputation of the bank when he secured Shaha Riza a $60,000 (£30,000) pay rise, according to a leak to The Washington Post. Bank insiders say that the committee is still deciding whether to call explicitly for his resignation. Mr Wolfowitz and Miss Riza are to appear before the committee tomorrow, after which the bank's full board could vote on his fate.
But his critics appeared to be choreographing moves to force him out - even before an European Union-US summit in Washington tomorrow, at which President George W Bush will appear alongside Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, one of Mr Wolfowitz's leading critics.
Opponents have stepped up pressure by revealing that Mr Wolfowitz is costing the World Bank $5 million a year in personal security because he is such a prominent target for terrorists.
Go... Go... Go honorably Wolfowitz!
